The city presented two options Wednesday night for how to zone Lower Manhattans elementary schools for next fall. The idea is to create four zones, one for each school, with kindergarteners guaranteed a seat in their zoned school. The zones will be in place for at least one year and are not intended to be permanent.
Both options zone northern Battery Park City (down to Albany St.) for P.S. 89 (highlighted in red in maps) and southern B.P.C. (below Albany St.) and the southern Financial District (below Liberty St.) for P.S. 276 (purple).
The two options differ in terms of where to draw lines for P.S. 234 (green) and the Spruce Street School (P.S. 397, blue). In Option 1, left, P.S. 234 would take students in Tribeca all the way from West St. to Lafayette St., but the zone would only go down to Warren St. (west of Church St.) and Chambers St. (east of Church St.). In Option 2, P.S. 234 would take students from a narrower slice of Tribeca, from West St. to Church St., but the zone would go all the way down to Liberty St. The Spruce Street School will cover the Seaport and the areas not covered by the other schools, including parts of Tribeca, the Financial District and the Civic Center.
The Dept. of Education showed the maps Wednesday night to the District 2 Community Education Council (Downtown Express added color to make them clearer). The C.E.C. has 45 days to give input on the plans and will hold at least two public hearings in Lower Manhattan, said Shino Tanikawa, chairperson of the C.E.C.’s zoning committee. Parents can also e-mail their feedback to the C.E.C. at D2zoning@gmail.com.
Look for more coverage and reactions to the school plans later this week at DowntownExpress.com and in next week’s hard copy issue.
